The UN Human
Rights Committee recognized the violation of the rights of representatives of
the democratic community of Brest concerning the freedom of expression and
freedom of peaceful assembly.

A complaint
was submitted to the Committee by four residents of the city (Iryna
Laurouskaya, Dzianis Turchaniak, Valery Faminski and Raman Kisliak). According
to human rights activist Raman Kisliak, the reason for applying to the UN Human
Rights Committee was that the local authorities banned pickets on various
issues related to the installation of a monument to the 1000th
anniversary of Brest.

"Those
protests were banned on the grounds that the city had but one authorized place
for picketing – the stadium Lakamatyu. But we were trying to organize pickets
in Gogol Street, next to the place where it was planned to erect the monument,"
says the human rights defender.

All attempts
to appeal the actions of the Belarusian authorities in Brest courts failed, and
in late 2009 the complaint was submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee.
Raman Kisliak believes that the decision of the Committee is a step towards
elimination of a common problem for all cities of Belarus, bans imposed on pickets
by local authorities.